Bangkok - Thai shares jumped nearly 6 per cent in value Monday on regional and European increases, despite fears of further political troubles.

Bangkok - Anti-government protestors marched through central Bangkok Monday on the eve of a verdict in a key corruption trial against their prime target, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The marchers with the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) listened to speakers accuse the current prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, Thaksin's brother-in-law, of being a Thaksin puppet and demand that he stand down. They also poured scorn on Somchai's promise of a fair investigation into police violence during a protest this month.

Bangkok - Former Thai prime minister Samak Sundaravej, who was forced out of office last month by a court ruling, said Saturday that he has cancer.

The rotund, outspoken Samak, 73, said that after the court ruling, abdominal pains prompted him to seek medical treatment and doctors discovered he has liver cancer, he told a local television programme.

An operation to alleviate the cancer had gone well, he said.

Bangkok - Thai prime minister Somchai Wongsawat on Friday rebuffed intense pressure to resign following a violent police crackdown against anti-government protestors.

Somchai, elevated last month, rejected a strong suggestion on Thursday by army commander Anupong Paojinda that he step down.

"This government was produced by the democratic system, It is not right that it be brought down by a mere opinion," Somchai said.

"Everyone should work together for the good of the country," he added.

Bangkok - Made-in-China explosive tear-gas canisters were blamed Friday for death and mayhem at an anti-government protest last week in Bangkok.

A group of policemen and their friends submitted a letter to China's ambassador to Thailand, demanding an investigation of the components of tear-gas containers used to disperse protests on October 7.

The death of two protestors and the maiming and wounding of hundreds of others have been blamed on the government. The police acted to lift a siege of Parliament by protestors attempting to prevent its formal opening under new Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.